Discussion
Black can man said:
f
king conning fking charity rip off's .
(Posts not arrived yet)king conning fking charity rip off's .FWIW I have nothing against giving to charity but if you are going to do something for make me donate it has to be impressive, riding 100miles is not impressive.
What happened to donating the old fashioned way, Granny promises little Jimmy 5p per length for a sponsored swim type thing? Now its Just Giving in your face demanding £50 because Uncle George is going to potter around the countryside for a few hours on his bike (which he'd do any other Sunday for fun)
I would feel ashamed asking my friends and colleagues to pay for me to go have fun, its a bit of a disgrace frankly.
How long before the- "Where can I join the course and do it for free?" thread starts? :-)
scubadude said:
(Posts not arrived yet)
FWIW I have nothing against giving to charity but if you are going to do something for make me donate it has to be impressive, riding 100miles is not impressive.
What happened to donating the old fashioned way, Granny promises little Jimmy 5p per length for a sponsored swim type thing? Now its Just Giving in your face demanding £50 because Uncle George is going to potter around the countryside for a few hours on his bike (which he'd do any other Sunday for fun)
I would feel ashamed asking my friends and colleagues to pay for me to go have fun, its a bit of a disgrace frankly.
How long before the- "Where can I join the course and do it for free?" thread starts? :-)
I did it the first two years via the charity route, but didn't feel I could ask a third year running. As well as that I did an Everesting last year, so asked for sponsorship as that was a big effort for me, and the Everest appeal was still fresh in people's minds.FWIW I have nothing against giving to charity but if you are going to do something for make me donate it has to be impressive, riding 100miles is not impressive.
What happened to donating the old fashioned way, Granny promises little Jimmy 5p per length for a sponsored swim type thing? Now its Just Giving in your face demanding £50 because Uncle George is going to potter around the countryside for a few hours on his bike (which he'd do any other Sunday for fun)
I would feel ashamed asking my friends and colleagues to pay for me to go have fun, its a bit of a disgrace frankly.
How long before the- "Where can I join the course and do it for free?" thread starts? :-)
I remember feeling surprised and angry at the sentiments "asking for sponsorship for your hobby" the first time I read them, but now feel for most regular cyclists they are right. 100 miles for a non-cyclist would be a challenge, but when you ride 60-80 miles on a Sunday in December, 100 in August isn't such a big deal. I think the event organisers are aiming it more at novices than experienced cyclists, maybe a little to do with "legacy" and a lot to do with raising funds for charities and keeping as many people onside for what must be a huge event in terms of impact.
However, it is a fantastic event, and I am glad to have had the easy year 1 and then the awful storms of year 2. I really hope I get a ballot place this year!
Daveyraveygravey said:
I remember feeling surprised and angry at the sentiments "asking for sponsorship for your hobby" the first time I read them, but now feel for most regular cyclists they are right. 100 miles for a non-cyclist would be a challenge, but when you ride 60-80 miles on a Sunday in December, 100 in August isn't such a big deal. I think the event organisers are aiming it more at novices than experienced cyclists, maybe a little to do with "legacy" and a lot to do with raising funds for charities and keeping as many people onside for what must be a huge event in terms of impact.
It's not so different to the London Marathon. You have a pro race, and you have the mass participation event. In the latter at the sharp end are some of the quickest club racers in the land, behind them lots of keen regulars who are quite capable of completing it but are just after a decent time, and towards the other end it's people in elephant costumes for charity and people for whom completing 26 miles is a genuine challenge.The organisers aim it at everyone in that mix, and yes it helps enormously when you need to close 100 miles of road that a big proportion of riders are doing it for charity (over £12m raised last year).
scubadude said:
Black can man said:
fking conning fking charity rip off's .
(Posts not arrived yet)king conning fking charity rip off's .FWIW I have nothing against giving to charity but if you are going to do something for make me donate it has to be impressive, riding 100miles is not impressive.
What happened to donating the old fashioned way, Granny promises little Jimmy 5p per length for a sponsored swim type thing? Now its Just Giving in your face demanding £50 because Uncle George is going to potter around the countryside for a few hours on his bike (which he'd do any other Sunday for fun)
I would feel ashamed asking my friends and colleagues to pay for me to go have fun, its a bit of a disgrace frankly.
How long before the- "Where can I join the course and do it for free?" thread starts? :-)
A friend of mine is running from London to Manchester in 10 days later this year for Macmillan - a marathon every day for 10 days. As a none runner, although quite fit, he's having to put some serious effort into his training and he's funding the whole event himself. That I'm happy to donate to.
Black can man said:
Commiserations again ! 4th year running .
All is not lost though, all i have to do is promise to raise a wheelbarrow full of cash & i can have a place.
fking conning fking charity rip off's .
Not that i'm bitter or anything
Same for me. Entered the ballot every year, get the same magazine every year, with the same 'Dear Entrant' slip of paper every year.All is not lost though, all i have to do is promise to raise a wheelbarrow full of cash & i can have a place.
f
king conning fking charity rip off's .Not that i'm bitter or anything
But it's OK! Don't despair, because...
RideLondon rejection slip said:
...this doesn't have to be the end of the road if it's your dream to ride the event. There are still thousands of charity places on offer...
Sadly, I don't think I'd be taken very seriously asking for donations for my hobby. I knocked out 200 miles over two consecutive December days last year to 'win' a daft cloth patch. 100 miles in summer, stormy or not, isn't going to cut it with my critics, unfortunately. Ah, well! I'll just have to read their magazine and find out which of their "Can't Fail Training Plans" I should follow to train for an event I got knocked back from, and what their "Tasty Nutrition Advice" can give me that buying Mars Bars from an all night petrol station won't... 
As Daveyraveygravey said, there are the non-cyclists for whom this will be a Herculean effort, and who will be far better motivated to raise money as a result. Good luck to all of them, and happy training! (Probably best to ban 'cyclists' from entering at all, and create a L2B Mk2 where hundreds of thousands of people can walk the route pushing bicycles.
)Still. Good luck to anyone who did get their place confirmed. Just please, FFS, don't let those of us who didn't get a place down by not even turning up to the start line. THAT, more than the repeated rejections, boils my piss.
Commiserations to those who didn't get a place but don't waste that pass!!! come join a whole host of PHers who are competing in the 24 hour RadAmRing race at the Nurburgring on the same weekend... There's a big thread with details elsewhere on the forum. From memory we have two teams of four, a pair and two soloists already....
scubadude said:
How long before the- "Where can I join the course and do it for free?" thread starts? :-)
If I'm about on that day, I'll probably do what I did last year. Ride to Newlands Corner, or thereabouts, and tack myself onto the route after the closures are lifted and the roads re-opened. The signage and barriers will still be out on the course, so following the route is easy. Even if the strip-out crews have been round, just follow the trail of gel wrappers and discarded bottles/tubes/clothing all the way back to London. And all for free!In fact. If I'm still feeling bitter'n'twisted about rejection, then I might just jump into the route while the official event is still on it. What are they going to do? Stop a few thousand cyclists to search for one without an event number? Not. Going. To. Happen.
4th year I've applied and the 4th year I've failed to get a place 
What I find most galling is firing up facebook this morning and seeing some obese unfit female mutual friend from Dorset stating she got a place again and this year endeavours to finish the race before the cutoff.
imo people born in London should get a better chance of gaining a place.
I like most on this subforum don't struggle with 100 miles so won't have the audacity to beg friends and go the sponsorship route, when I did the Dunwich Dynamo last year multiple people asked how much I raised and when I said it was just a ride with no fundraising they couldn't comprehend.
What I find most galling is firing up facebook this morning and seeing some obese unfit female mutual friend from Dorset stating she got a place again and this year endeavours to finish the race before the cutoff.
imo people born in London should get a better chance of gaining a place.
I like most on this subforum don't struggle with 100 miles so won't have the audacity to beg friends and go the sponsorship route, when I did the Dunwich Dynamo last year multiple people asked how much I raised and when I said it was just a ride with no fundraising they couldn't comprehend.
untakenname said:
What I find most galling is firing up facebook this morning and seeing some obese unfit female mutual friend from Dorset stating she got a place again and this year endeavours to finish the race before the cutoff.
I would rather newbies got the places to be honest.Might start her on a lifetime of keeping fit... you never know.
untakenname said:
What I find most galling is firing up facebook this morning and seeing some obese unfit female mutual friend from Dorset stating she got a place again and this year endeavours to finish the race before the cutoff.
I have no problems with the random selection policy, its a lottery and allegedly there is no weighting...(As a obese, unfit man living in Dorset I can say this ;-)
I was born and raised in East London so I see this as as close to home as they are ever likely to run an event and the closed roads nature makes it unusual enough to go through the hassle (and it is a bloody hassle for sure) to sign up, get a place and all that faff to sign on the day before and get to such a stupid-o'clock start.
I do think anyone who's done it should get banned from competing the next year just to spread the participation around a bit, I also (selfishly) think those of us who got to ride the shortened and wet one in 2014 ought to get preferential loading to get in a future ride should be enter the lottery :-) I think I have only just now dried out from that ride- good grief that was W E T.
walm said:
scubadude said:
I think I have only just now dried out from that ride- good grief that was W E T.
Username confirms expertise in this area. And I agree. I've had drier baths.Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff